Well we returned the car at lunchtime today, Wed 29th. It was a manual Astra and cost 12.34 pound a day (includes 20% VAT). There was also a security charge of 200 pound, but we got that back. We paid 1.32 pound per litre for petrol.

We went for a walk in the opposite direction in the afternoon, going through the Langdon Nature Reserve (461 acres) and the Langdon Lake and Meadows . It was drizzling but not freezing, so we managed to stay out there for 2 hours. Before I give you a history lesson about the plotlands and new towns, I'll just tell you about the first photo. Monday was a glorious day, by English standards, and we walked up through the woods to The Crown at the top of the hill. Took this photo, looking towards London, from the same spot as a couple of weeks ago - much easier to see the Canary Wharf skyscrapers in this one.

Okay - history. The Laindon/Dunton/Basildon Plotlands began life in the early 1900s, when the cheap cost of imported American grain (combined with bad weather) meant that the value of farm land fell. Much of the farm land was sold off to property developers at a time when the Fenchurch Street to Southend railwayline was shortened and a station built at Laindon. By the early 1900s developers were organising 'Champagne Sales', luring Londoners to the countryside with special train tickets, free champagne and exaggerated claims of the amenities which were expected to be available .

In 1924, 183 of the Dunton plots were sold at roughly the cost of £6 a plot (several times the average weekly wage at the time). Although originally intended as holiday homes and weekend retreats, by the Second World War many families decided to move to their plots permanently even though there were no made-up roads, running water, gas or electricity (with fathers often commuting to London from Laindon station). 

Although "The Haven" (see photo), the last lived in plothouse, eventually had mains gas and cold-running water, life for the Plotlanders was hard work. Most Plotlanders grew their own fruit and veg and kept livestock like chickens, goats and pigs. Conditions on the hills of the avenues were so muddy in winter time that a special path was built along the front of all the houses, allowing the residents to transport coal and other supplies up and down the hill in two ‘basses’, modified bassinets. Some of these paths can still be seen today amongst the long grass on the reserve and also outside The Haven .

As the Plotlanders designed and built their own homes there was a wide range in styles amongst the different plots. Some were brick-built bungalows, whilst others were small wooden structures and, in at least one case, a railway carriage.

With the advent of Basildon New Town in 1949, the plotlands began to decline. The Plotlands story finally came to an end in the 1980s, when the remaining houses were compulsorily purchased by Basildon Council. The Basildon Development Corporation began attempts to compulsorily purchase the land in the 1950s and many of the buildings were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s. The land was originally intended for housing but in the 1980s Basildon Council had a change of heart (possibly due to the sloping nature of the land) and decided to keep the area as green space. Although the Plotlands residents were offered accommodation in the new town, many chose not to accept the offer or were disappointed with their new accommodation. For people used to large gardens, open spaces and a tight-knit community of friendly neighbours, the new flats were a poor substitute.


N.B. The New Towns proper were planned to disperse population following the Second World War under the powers of the "New Town Acts 1946 "and later acts. They were not in fact new, but developed around historic cores.

 The first wave was intended to help alleviate the housing shortages following World War II, beyond the green belt around London.